Locking-bung.



No. 799,802. PATBNTED SEPT. 19, 1905. G. W. PHILLIPS.

LOCKING BUNG.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 26, 1905.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

No. 799,802. PATENTED SEPT. 19, 1905.

G. W. PHILLIPS.

LOCKING BUNG.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 26, 1905.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

I INVENTOR 'jm wzzw, 0W, W.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LOCKING-SUNG- Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 19, 1905.

Application filed January 26, 1905- Serial No. 242,732.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE W. PHILLIPS, a citizen of the United States, residing in Newark, county of Essex, and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvemen ts in Locking-Brings; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to letters and figures of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

My invention relates to means for preventing the surreptitious abstraction of the contents of whisky-barrels and the like.

My invention comprehends as its principal objects an improved form of locking-bung or the like requiring a key for opening the same to permit access to the barrel or other vessel and a means for visually determining from time to time what quantity of liquid the vessel contains, so that even if the bung is opened with or without authority of the owner the latter can ascertain any discrepancy by comparing what said means shows to be the quantity which is in the vessel with what he knows, from a record kept, ought to be found therein.

My invention will be found fully illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein Figure 1 shows a barrel provided with my improved locking-bung and gage. Fig. 2 is a full-size view, in side elevation, of the said locking-bung and gage. Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional view on the line we in Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a view like Fig. 3, except that it shows a certain cap removed and the key inserted. Fig. 5 is a plan View of the upper casing member. Fig. 6 is a plan view of the lower casing member with the bolts in place and the lower portion of the key shown in horizontal section, and Figs. 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11 are views illustrating certain details.

The casing of the locking-bung is made in two cup-shaped parts a and Z, screwed the one into the other, as at c. When thus connected together, they approximately fit the bung-hole (Z of a barrel or other vessel 6. The part b is formed at its top with a lateral flange f, between which and the top of the threading on said part there is consequently left a groove or channel g. This groove or channel is designed to receive the ends of screws ZL, which are screwed into the part a,'and thus prevent the separation of the parts a and Z), except the screws be partly withdrawn. The purpose of this will be explained later on. The top wall '5 of the part a is formed with a centrally-located tubular-key-guide j, and it has screwed into it over said key-guide a cap 70.

Z designates bolts arranged in the part b to project through diametrically opposite holes 12?. therein. In order to guide these bolts for movement radially, they are formed with guides a, which receive lugs 0 on the bottom wallp of the part 5. Q is a plate which is arched over the bolts Z and acts as an abutment for a plate-spring 1*, which bears down against the bolts Z and keeps them squarely against the bottom wall 1) of part 6. Plate 41 and spring 7' are formed with openings .9, through which the key, hereinafter described, may extend. The inner ends of the bolts Zare formed as racks t, disposed one on each side of the position occupied by the key when the latter is inserted. This key (shown in Figs.

4 and 8) has a toothed portion or pinion a,

adapted to engage with the teeth of the racks aforesaid when the key is inserted in the bung. By turning the key after it is properly inserted the bolts can be moved radially in or out, as will be manifest. V

o is a lateral flange on the part a. Flange c and the bolts Zwhen the latter are extended cooperate as abutments, between which the surrounding portion of the vessel at the bunghole is clamped in securing the bung in the bung-hole. When the bung is being inserted into the bung-hole, the bolts are of course withdrawn. They are then extended, whereupon part (Z is turned so that the threaded connection between parts a and?) operates to draw the bolts Z and flange 0 together to clamp the bung in position, as just stated.

w is a rubber sealing-gasket under flange o. In order to prevent this gasket from buckling when part a is turned, the latter is formed with an annular rib a, aifording a sharp bearing-surface for the flange against the gasket.

In the bottom of the part Z, axially thereof, is formed a valve-chamber y, in which seats a valve 2, whose stem 1 is guided in an axial hole 2 in the bottom of part 5 of said valvechamber.

3 is a spiral spring coiled about the valvestem between the bottom of the valve-chamber and the valve and normally keeping the valve off its seat. A hole 4 in the top of the valve receives a pintle 5 on the key, and when the key is inserted it forces the valve against its seat. The under sides of the inner ends a rubber gasket 10, and it is removably held in place in the socket 7 by a union 11, which is screwed onto the socket and contains another rubber gasket 12, interposed between a shoulder 13, formed externally on the gageglass, and a shoulder 14:, formed internally on the union.

My device operates indifi'erently well whether the contents of the vessel are taken out by siphoning or through a spigot. If the contents are taken out by a spigot, the cap is first removed. Atmospheric air can then enter the gage-glass through the bung as the liquid in the vessel is withdrawn, since now, as always, when the bung is properly arranged in position valve .2 is open. If the contents are to be siphoned out, having removed the cap it and turned 'part a in part b, so as to reduce the clamping action of flange o and bolts Z, the key is inserted and made to withdraw the bolts. The bung may then be removed and the siphoning device inserted in the bung-hole. When the bung, with the gage attached, has thus been removed, since at this time valve .2 is held against its seat, as above described, atmospheric pressure will retain the liquid in the gage at the same height at which it was whenin the vessel, thus revealing at once whether or not there is the quantity in the vessel which there ought to be.

The threaded connection between parts a and b not only permits clamping the bung tightly in the barrel, but makes the device adjustable to various thicknesses of barrelstaves. The screws it when set in far enough so as to project into the channel g act to prevent the complete separation of parts a and b in distancing them previously to withdrawing the bolts. Without this expedient part 6 might accidentally fall into the barrel or elsewhere and the gage become broken.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a locking-bung, the combination of a casing made in two parts having a threaded connection between them, one of said parts having an annular flange projecting toward the other and the other having a projection extending past the perimeter of said flange toward said first-named part, said flange and projection preventing the separation of said In this socket is re- I parts upon unscrewing the one from the other, substantially as described.

2. In a locking-bung, the combination of a casing, radially-movable bolts arranged in said casing against one wall thereof, an arched plate secured to said wall over the bolts, a spring interposed between said plate and the bolts and bearing against the latter and a lateral flange on said casing adapted to cooperate with the bolts to receive between itself and the bolts the wall of the vessel in which the bung is fitted, substantially as described.

3. The combination of a locking-bung, and a tubular gage attached thereto and having an opening in its bottom portion and also having means for admitting atmospheric air in its top portion, substantially as described.

et. The combination of a locking-bung, a tubular gage attached thereto and having an opening in its bottom portion, and a means for admitting atmospheric air through the bung to the top of said gage, substantially as described.

5. The combination of a locking-bung, a tubular gage attached thereto and having an opening in its bottom portion, and a valvecontrolled means foradmitting atmospheric air through the bung to the top of said gage, substantially as described.

6. The combination of a locking-bung, a tubular gage attached thereto and having an opening in its bottom portion and also having an opening in its top portion, and a valve controlling said last-named opening and operative'upon operating the bung, substantially as described.

7. The combination of a locking-bung, a tubular gage attached thereto and having an opening in its bottom portion and also having an opening in its top portion, a normally unseated valve controlling said opening, and means for closing said valve upon unlocking the bung, substantially as described.

8. The combination of a locking-bung, a tubular gage, a socket on the bung receiving the one end of the gage, a union screwed on the socket, said union and the gage having cooperative shoulders, and an elastic gasket interposed between said shoulders, substantially as described.

9. The combination of a locking-bung, a tubular gage, a socket on the bung receiving the one end of the gage, a union screwed on the socket, said union and the gage having cooperative shoulders, and another elastic gasket interposed between said end of the gage and the bottom of the socket, substantially as described.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto set my hand this 20th day of January, 1905.

GEORGE W. PHILLIPS. Witnesses:

JOHN W. STEWARD, WM. D. BELL. 

